The head of Australia's fishery management authority has defended the organisation's handling of declining fisheries after criticism it didn't respond quickly enough to the changing climate.
A recent population survey found a deepwater fish trawled in South East Australia's fishery, the jackass morwong, was down to 15 per cent of its original population.
It has been a flashpoint for a Senate Committee inquiry into the fisheries quota system, with Greens Senator for Tasmania Peter Whish-Wilson contending the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) acted too slowly to protect the morwong.
"I suggest there has been a cultural resistance to change, especially within the Australian Fisheries Management Authority," Senator Whish-Wilson said.
'Devastating' impact
AFMA chief executive Wez Norris said climate change had been "devastating" for species particularly sensitive to ocean conditions.
"The East Australian Current is pushing 350 kilometres further south than it ever has before, running faster than it has before, creating more powerful eddies than it ever has before," he said.
Until 2020, the jackass morwong was listed as a sustainable catch.
But a shift in the authority's modelling of the fish population relies only on the century's breeding data, rather than a 70-year average.
"Our harvest strategy policy says that we won't tolerate anything less than 20 per cent [of the population]," Mr Norris said.
"Under our arrangements, we need to put in place measures to build it back up to that 20 per cent limit as quickly as we can."
AFMA's data on the fish's below-average breeding rate ranged from 2004 to 2015 and action was first taken late last year.
Mr Norris said the authority had used the "best available science" and regular stock assessments.
"It's got all the hallmarks of what should have been a successful management story," he said.
"Unfortunately, where everyone has been a bit slow to respond has been in terms of taking into account these external factors and the climatic influences on how these fish stocks are responding."
Quotas reduced, fishing areas closed
Before AFMA's changes, trawl fishers were not catching as much morwong as they were allowed to as it was not a valuable targeted species such as flathead.
The trawl fishing industry estimates it caught about 110 tonnes in the last year, which is roughly a quarter of its 400t quota.
Last year a new quota limit of 60t was put in place to drastically reduce the catch.
But Mr Norris said reducing the fishing quota was not enough to prevent fishers from catching morwong.
He said fishers could throw dead morwong overboard before returning to port to avoid fines for breaching quotas.
"We needed to take additional measures to prevent a situation where the same amount of fish got caught but they had to throw it over the side essentially," he said.
As an additional measure, AFMA proposed closing five hotspot areas for the species from Victoria's Gippsland down to south-east Tasmania.
The closure of the fisheries is expected to aid the struggling morwong and preserve about 625t of other fish species caught in those areas.
The move reduces the footprint of the South East Australia fishery by between 15 and 20 per cent, leaving trawl fishers to either lose profitability or overfish the remaining areas.
Boats bailed out
Labor's federal budget allocated $24 million to buy back licences in the fishery to avoid a glut of ships fishing the reduced area.
The scheme was first promised by the coalition government in response to the closures and received bipartisan support in the budget.
South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association executive officer Simon Boag said the association wanted 10 inactive licences to be paid out, as well as several active boats.
"The association's view is that we need to remove at least 7, 8, 9, 10 active fishing boats from south-east Australia," he said.
That would leave the fishery with fewer than 40 active boats.
The AFMA closures are set to take effect from May next year but details of how the licence buyback scheme will run are yet to be announced.
"All we know thus far is that the Labor government they're doing this, they're talking about running a process in early 2023 and we don't know anything other than that," Mr Boag said.
Inquiry probes quota system
Some are warning that more fishery closures will become likely due to some fish species' sensitivity to warming oceans.
It is expected that the findings from an inquiry called for two years ago by Senator Whish-Wilson will be handed down next month.
Senator Whish-Wilson said management authorities needed to be more reactive to climate change, particularly in the South East Australia fishery.
"The East Australian Current has warmed significantly," he said.
"It's 40 per cent above its long-term average in the last six or seven years — that's all happened on 1 degree of warming.
"It may be too late for some fisheries, but fisheries can recover."
